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What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities—One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time
A beloved folk singer presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishes
Dubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America's small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises.
Here, Williams muses on why some towns flourish while others fail, examining elements from the significance of history and nature to the uniting power of public spaces and food. Drawing on her own travels and the work of urban theorists, Williams offers real solutions to rebuild declining communities.
What I Found in a Thousand Towns is more than a love letter to America's small towns, it's a deeply personal and hopeful message about the potential of America's lively and resilient communities.
Dubbed by the New Yorker as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters," Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America's small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises.
Here, Williams muses on why some towns flourish while others fail, examining elements from the significance of history and nature to the uniting power of public spaces and food. Drawing on her own travels and the work of urban theorists, Williams offers real solutions to rebuild declining communities.
What I Found in a Thousand Towns is more than a love letter to America's small towns, it's a deeply personal and hopeful message about the potential of America's lively and resilient communities.
288 pages, Audiobook
Published September 5, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
April 16, 2018
I wanted to read this through the lens of library spaces, and found some interesting tidbits.
The only place I have visited that she mentions is Carrboro, NC, where she discusses the importance of cultivating an environments for artists, how artists come and others follow, how art creates bridges in a community.
A few quotes I liked from the Moab chapter, perhaps most relevant to the strengths of our library:
"At every turn, there was someone to point out another arch and a bend in the river. They knew their town inside and out and took responsibility for it. That is positive proximity."
"The camaraderie among people working in these places were clearly there, as were their helpfulness and pride."
"Communities must always take care of their human needs and pay attention to their human economy as carefully as they facilitate the love of their landscapes."
The only place I have visited that she mentions is Carrboro, NC, where she discusses the importance of cultivating an environments for artists, how artists come and others follow, how art creates bridges in a community.
A few quotes I liked from the Moab chapter, perhaps most relevant to the strengths of our library:
"At every turn, there was someone to point out another arch and a bend in the river. They knew their town inside and out and took responsibility for it. That is positive proximity."
"The camaraderie among people working in these places were clearly there, as were their helpfulness and pride."
"Communities must always take care of their human needs and pay attention to their human economy as carefully as they facilitate the love of their landscapes."
April 4, 2018
I haven't read reviews of this book yet, but I suspect that what people think about this book will largely have to do with the reason they bought it. If you are like me, you bought it (or in my case, it was purchased for me) because I like Dar Williams, the singer, and wanted to go to her concert which was paired with this book. And sure, I'll give Dar a shot as an author. She's a great storyteller. However, right away I could tell this was going to be a long slog of a read. Because here's the thing: this book is about city planning and urban development, which just so happens to be written by Dar Williams. It is not a book about how Dar Williams, the singer, experiences towns as a traveling musician. I suppose you could argue that I'm wrong, and I even think that what I described above was her intent. But the way it was executed just felt so clinical and not at all personal. It's not that it's a bad book, or that she didn't do the research, and it's even decently written. But right out of the gates, I found myself wondering what *Dar Williams* in particular was bringing to this story. You will not be charmed by the tales of a traveling bard seeing towns with fresh eyes. Instead, you will find jargony sentences that trip over themselves with definitions, like:
"In order for the Detroit RiverWalk to function as a builder of positive proximity for all, the keepers of the peace must respond to diverse visitors. The 'safety' must feel truly safe."
"What is an agrosphere? Technically it's called a foodshed."
"Signs that welcome and signs that wayfind (a recently minted urban planning verb that means 'help us find our way') tell a lot about a city."
Dar, I love you, but you didn't have to invent "positive proximity" to talk about common threads of thriving, wayfinding is a pretty common term, and how about you just call it a foodshed? I don't know, it's almost like she wanted to make sure that she came across as serious enough, or well informed enough, and the price we pay for that is that we have absolutely zero context for why we are hearing about these wonderful towns from this folk singer. There are a few moments where this personal connection comes through, mostly stacked later in the book. Hearing about the routine of what Dar does when she arrives in a town, or war stories about how various venues receive (gracefully or otherwise) folk musicians, or touring with Joan Baez and what that green room is like? Yes. Hearing about how a parents' group and a sledding hill are the cures for every town's ills? Not so much.
Good for Dar for stretching beyond her defined bounds as a singer to flex her muscles as a writer. I don't mean to sound so harsh, but I would have enjoyed this book so much more if Dar had let herself, her folk-singing, babysitter having self, shine through this narrative more.
"In order for the Detroit RiverWalk to function as a builder of positive proximity for all, the keepers of the peace must respond to diverse visitors. The 'safety' must feel truly safe."
"What is an agrosphere? Technically it's called a foodshed."
"Signs that welcome and signs that wayfind (a recently minted urban planning verb that means 'help us find our way') tell a lot about a city."
Dar, I love you, but you didn't have to invent "positive proximity" to talk about common threads of thriving, wayfinding is a pretty common term, and how about you just call it a foodshed? I don't know, it's almost like she wanted to make sure that she came across as serious enough, or well informed enough, and the price we pay for that is that we have absolutely zero context for why we are hearing about these wonderful towns from this folk singer. There are a few moments where this personal connection comes through, mostly stacked later in the book. Hearing about the routine of what Dar does when she arrives in a town, or war stories about how various venues receive (gracefully or otherwise) folk musicians, or touring with Joan Baez and what that green room is like? Yes. Hearing about how a parents' group and a sledding hill are the cures for every town's ills? Not so much.
Good for Dar for stretching beyond her defined bounds as a singer to flex her muscles as a writer. I don't mean to sound so harsh, but I would have enjoyed this book so much more if Dar had let herself, her folk-singing, babysitter having self, shine through this narrative more.
June 17, 2017
Admitted bias: I've loved Dar since I was thirteen, and have had the great fortune to get to know her in the thirteen years since. But even if that weren't the case, I'm confident I'd find this book just as wise and clear-eyed and instructive. A touring musician has a singular vantage point as she visits and returns to towns and cities over and over in the course of almost three decades of touring, and it's from that vantage point that Dar writes this book—a kind of ars poetica of urban theory—so astutely, with great wit and insight.
February 20, 2024
I wanted very badly to like this book. After all, I've been a fan of Dar Williams' music for almost 30 years at this point, and having seen her countless times in concert, she is definitely a keen observer of humanity. Plus, half of the experience of going to see Dar play is that her between-song banter is absolutely hilarious because it is so spot on. She also has a sunny optimism about humans that is a little (okay, a lot) out of place in these times, but that childlike innocence and belief in everyone's goodness is unique and lovable.
It's one thing, though, to encapsulate a fleeting thought, a moment, or even a set of experiences, into a song that's five minutes long: the format forces a songwriter to really focus on the crux of a matter, and doesn't allow for lengthy digressions. It's another thing for a songwriter like Dar to try and write a whole book that's essentially a treatise about urban anthropology and is sort of like an antithesis to Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone; Dar wants to channel her experiences as a touring musician into a thesis about civic spaces that work. Admirable as this might be, she is unfortunately not terribly successful. For starters, she can't seem to decide whether she's writing a memoir or a dissertation. I would have been much happier reading a pure memoir that might have included some of Dar's signature wisecracks and hysterical observations. But when Dar tries to play amateur sociologist, all of that wit evaporates. She tries to invent her own ill-defined concepts like "positive proximity" to tie a thesis together, but then undermines any kind of academic seriousness by inventing a bunch of other terms like "combustible river syndrome (CRS)" (acronym hers) to describe how waterways were exceedingly polluted in the 1960's. Funny, but not rigorous. She quotes no other sources except her own friends and acquaintances to bolster her assertions; there are no footnotes or endnotes to the book. She often loses the plot of whatever lesson she's trying to impart, and ends up in a digression about this band or that artist or friend of a friend until, a couple dozen pages into a chapter, you're suddenly asking yourself, "what is she trying to say here again?" And so it goes.
In the end, What I Found... comes across as dilettantish. Dar may not be wrong about the necessary ingredients to make strong towns and cities, but her overly positive hippie-ish "all you need is love" framing about this is naive. If only it were so easy for everyone to simply pick up a metaphorical shovel, dig into some community problem, meet your neighbors, and return America to the harmony of the 1950's (a certain kind of harmony, I'll add, that is patrician and white). There is no deeper advice that Dar's trying to impart here other than to get involved in your community and strengthen it, and everything will supposedly be okay. Presumably these folks all living in harmony won't then make destructive choices like voting for Donald Trump. (Hah!)
As I said -- I wish Dar had just written a memoir without trying to be an amateur Richard Florida. That I might have enjoyed more.
It's one thing, though, to encapsulate a fleeting thought, a moment, or even a set of experiences, into a song that's five minutes long: the format forces a songwriter to really focus on the crux of a matter, and doesn't allow for lengthy digressions. It's another thing for a songwriter like Dar to try and write a whole book that's essentially a treatise about urban anthropology and is sort of like an antithesis to Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone; Dar wants to channel her experiences as a touring musician into a thesis about civic spaces that work. Admirable as this might be, she is unfortunately not terribly successful. For starters, she can't seem to decide whether she's writing a memoir or a dissertation. I would have been much happier reading a pure memoir that might have included some of Dar's signature wisecracks and hysterical observations. But when Dar tries to play amateur sociologist, all of that wit evaporates. She tries to invent her own ill-defined concepts like "positive proximity" to tie a thesis together, but then undermines any kind of academic seriousness by inventing a bunch of other terms like "combustible river syndrome (CRS)" (acronym hers) to describe how waterways were exceedingly polluted in the 1960's. Funny, but not rigorous. She quotes no other sources except her own friends and acquaintances to bolster her assertions; there are no footnotes or endnotes to the book. She often loses the plot of whatever lesson she's trying to impart, and ends up in a digression about this band or that artist or friend of a friend until, a couple dozen pages into a chapter, you're suddenly asking yourself, "what is she trying to say here again?" And so it goes.
In the end, What I Found... comes across as dilettantish. Dar may not be wrong about the necessary ingredients to make strong towns and cities, but her overly positive hippie-ish "all you need is love" framing about this is naive. If only it were so easy for everyone to simply pick up a metaphorical shovel, dig into some community problem, meet your neighbors, and return America to the harmony of the 1950's (a certain kind of harmony, I'll add, that is patrician and white). There is no deeper advice that Dar's trying to impart here other than to get involved in your community and strengthen it, and everything will supposedly be okay. Presumably these folks all living in harmony won't then make destructive choices like voting for Donald Trump. (Hah!)
As I said -- I wish Dar had just written a memoir without trying to be an amateur Richard Florida. That I might have enjoyed more.
May 16, 2018
This book has a few problems, most notably a title (actually, a subtitle) that misinforms the prospective reader what the book is about. The title is "What I Found in a Thousand Towns". By the way, there's nowhere near 1000 towns in this book, but that's not what I'm talking about. If that was the entire title, that would have been fine. The book is partly memoir, partly travelogue, and partly stories about her various friends, acquaintances, gigs, etc. There's a little bit about what makes towns and cities work. But the subtitle "A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities - One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, & Open-Mike Night at a Time" misses the mark. There's very little actionable advice on how to rebuild a community, much less a "guide".
What I got out of this book is the following:
* Create "positive proximity", which I think is essentially have good stuff close to other good stuff. Create spaces that engage people. (Good advice.)
* Make use of pre-existing assets such as proximity to a national park, availability of a riverfront, existence of a public attraction (museum, performance space, etc.), or famous residents.
* Get people engaged. Embrace quirky people unless they happen to support the NRA or are Tea Party members.
I've over-simplified the message, but I'm sorry. As someone who would like to do a little community rebuilding, most of this book is unhelpful. I can't create a nearby national park, I can't conjure up some fabulous facility like "Dia:Beacon" (an "internationally renowned museum") or Wesleyan University, and I can't persuade someone like Pete Seeger to move here. I could have read an article on "positive proximity", or maybe a 20 page summary, and gotten most of the useful advice on rebuilding communities out of it.
So if you like Dar Williams or you like reading stories of random community projects, then this book might be for you. Personally, I found it to be a waste of time. Sorry, but that's my review.
What I got out of this book is the following:
* Create "positive proximity", which I think is essentially have good stuff close to other good stuff. Create spaces that engage people. (Good advice.)
* Make use of pre-existing assets such as proximity to a national park, availability of a riverfront, existence of a public attraction (museum, performance space, etc.), or famous residents.
* Get people engaged. Embrace quirky people unless they happen to support the NRA or are Tea Party members.
I've over-simplified the message, but I'm sorry. As someone who would like to do a little community rebuilding, most of this book is unhelpful. I can't create a nearby national park, I can't conjure up some fabulous facility like "Dia:Beacon" (an "internationally renowned museum") or Wesleyan University, and I can't persuade someone like Pete Seeger to move here. I could have read an article on "positive proximity", or maybe a 20 page summary, and gotten most of the useful advice on rebuilding communities out of it.
So if you like Dar Williams or you like reading stories of random community projects, then this book might be for you. Personally, I found it to be a waste of time. Sorry, but that's my review.
February 8, 2018
I've long been fascinated by the way that the arts, local business and government can come together to make a particular town work... or not. I've also been a longtime fan of Williams' music, so I figured this would be a great vacation read while I spent time exploring a new city. I wasn't wrong.
While the author may have been introduced to the various places she's been as a traveling folk singer, it's very clear that she's taken the time to explore the history of the places she writes about, and spent time interviewing some of the people behind the success stories she's seen.
An interesting point she makes is that there's more to making a town or city a great living space than just money. True, employment is an important part of it, but often the better, and more fulfilling jobs in a community come from building a local ecosystem that links small business and community organizations (and, although she doesn't mention it, my own experience in the newspaper biz taught me that local businesses can feed a lot more into a town's economy than a large corporate entity, which sends a big chunk of its profits out of the area).
She's got a lot of good observations and anecdotes that are not only really interesting for the reader, but may provide some ideas and inspiration for folks looking to build better connections in their own communities.
While the author may have been introduced to the various places she's been as a traveling folk singer, it's very clear that she's taken the time to explore the history of the places she writes about, and spent time interviewing some of the people behind the success stories she's seen.
An interesting point she makes is that there's more to making a town or city a great living space than just money. True, employment is an important part of it, but often the better, and more fulfilling jobs in a community come from building a local ecosystem that links small business and community organizations (and, although she doesn't mention it, my own experience in the newspaper biz taught me that local businesses can feed a lot more into a town's economy than a large corporate entity, which sends a big chunk of its profits out of the area).
She's got a lot of good observations and anecdotes that are not only really interesting for the reader, but may provide some ideas and inspiration for folks looking to build better connections in their own communities.
May 17, 2018
noblesse oblige!
readers' comments on amazon were snarky but incisive about the folk singer mentality, white and very liberal, biased and shot through with unexamined needs for idealism and self-congratulation not to speak of glaring hypocritical thinking (it sounds right on a gut level that the small town transformation of Beacon had less to do with preserving what was there before, than the importing of an artistic sophisticated New York point of view, also drops a line about how Pete Seeger spent 50 years trying to get things going there, then never mentions him again;
one reader pointed out how condescending Williams appears, writing as she if she is a native when she's spent very little time in the towns she describes;
This book shed absolutely no light on the process by which some towns are able to reinvent themselves, rather Williams focusses on individuals who brought their town back to life through a sense of civic responsibility and determined perseverance.
read all chapters except the one on Gainesville, FLA and Middletown, CT; started scanning them after the chapter on Beacon, NY;
3 themes: the importance of physical spaces that invite social interaction, identity: either through history or geography, and translation, which to me was more about how you sell your town through the story you choose to tell about it, in other words, savvy PR
readers' comments on amazon were snarky but incisive about the folk singer mentality, white and very liberal, biased and shot through with unexamined needs for idealism and self-congratulation not to speak of glaring hypocritical thinking (it sounds right on a gut level that the small town transformation of Beacon had less to do with preserving what was there before, than the importing of an artistic sophisticated New York point of view, also drops a line about how Pete Seeger spent 50 years trying to get things going there, then never mentions him again;
one reader pointed out how condescending Williams appears, writing as she if she is a native when she's spent very little time in the towns she describes;
This book shed absolutely no light on the process by which some towns are able to reinvent themselves, rather Williams focusses on individuals who brought their town back to life through a sense of civic responsibility and determined perseverance.
read all chapters except the one on Gainesville, FLA and Middletown, CT; started scanning them after the chapter on Beacon, NY;
3 themes: the importance of physical spaces that invite social interaction, identity: either through history or geography, and translation, which to me was more about how you sell your town through the story you choose to tell about it, in other words, savvy PR
March 26, 2021
3.5 stars-full disclosure: I didn't have a ton of interest in the topic of this book, but I love Dar's music and bought this for my mom a few years back and I was annoyed she hadn't read it yet so I picked it up, so. Not my purest motivation for reading a book, if you're interested in the topic of community-building/revitalization you will probably enjoy reading this a lot more than I did! A lot of the advice seems very general but there's sections about lots of interesting people that may give some inspiration to people actively looking to create the "positive proximity" of an interactive and invested town. While there are a few mentions of bridging a racial divide, most of the conversation does center around what seem to be white, mainly middle-class examples.
April 17, 2021
Positive proximity - I like it.
May 22, 2019
"Communities must always take care of their human needs and pay attention to their human economy as carefully as they facilitate the love of their landscapes."
My book group chose to read this book because one of our members was lucky enough to hear Williams speak on this topic. I suspect I would have rather heard Ms Williams herself tell her ideas than reading a whole book based on what she has seen in various communities.
There is nothing wrong with Williams’ ideas or the book. However, there is a lot of repetition in this book. Once I had read about one community’s success, I had a pretty good idea how the next community would work out their issues.
Which leads to my other problem with these concepts. These communities were very similar – mostly white, mostly middle-class. I realize that Williams appeals to a particular group of people and so the places she would sing would look alike. It is probably too much to expect her to have tried to find some places that were more diverse.
We had a good discussion and this book did make me think about my small town in some different ways. I am glad I read it.
My book group chose to read this book because one of our members was lucky enough to hear Williams speak on this topic. I suspect I would have rather heard Ms Williams herself tell her ideas than reading a whole book based on what she has seen in various communities.
There is nothing wrong with Williams’ ideas or the book. However, there is a lot of repetition in this book. Once I had read about one community’s success, I had a pretty good idea how the next community would work out their issues.
Which leads to my other problem with these concepts. These communities were very similar – mostly white, mostly middle-class. I realize that Williams appeals to a particular group of people and so the places she would sing would look alike. It is probably too much to expect her to have tried to find some places that were more diverse.
We had a good discussion and this book did make me think about my small town in some different ways. I am glad I read it.
July 22, 2017
Make sure you carefully read the description of this book before getting it, and make sure you are highly interested in the topic. I was not. I guess, since the author is a singer-songwriter, I imagined the book was going to be more a memoir, where town planning was going to come up every now and then. No, town planning is it. While Dar Williams' book is neither too technical nor dry, it still bored me to tears reading about the things towns or cities did to improve the lives of their citizens. I'm truly happy for all those people and places, but I desperately wanted out of reading this book. Thus, three stars for a neutral rating, since I stopped reading long before the end.
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
(Note: I received a free ARC of this book from Amazon Vine.)
August 25, 2020
Dar’s voice shines through in this thoughtful, critical, and hopeful account of the struggles and successes of several American communities. Her insight into what makes a town or city a place in which the visitor can see themselves is enlightening. She delves deeply into what works and what doesn’t when upgrading or simplifying shared spaces. Especially interesting is the depth of her understanding of these places she’s visited and returned to as a touring musician. She’s spoken to mayors, council people, planners, residents, and tourists. She’s seen towns go from lifeless downtowns to popular communities over the course of her travels and she shares the changes that have made these places so popular.
Beyond a mere retelling of what may have been sold to her by the boosters of a community, Dar applies her wisdom and insight to look beneath the hype. She acknowledges the downside of growing popularity, along with gentrification, mismanagement, and what seems hardest to tackle in this country – diversity.
This took me a while to read because I needed to digest so much of what was being told. Each section is filled with inspiring ideas that will make you wonder how your own community could be better. Highly recommend. “It starts with a hill.”
Beyond a mere retelling of what may have been sold to her by the boosters of a community, Dar applies her wisdom and insight to look beneath the hype. She acknowledges the downside of growing popularity, along with gentrification, mismanagement, and what seems hardest to tackle in this country – diversity.
This took me a while to read because I needed to digest so much of what was being told. Each section is filled with inspiring ideas that will make you wonder how your own community could be better. Highly recommend. “It starts with a hill.”
Read
February 26, 2023I love Dar and her music, and always will. But I didn't make it out of this book's intro before realizing it would be too . . . how should I say . . . people-y.
March 9, 2023
Thoughtful prescriptions for community building, with a lot of storytelling baked in.
April 7, 2024
It was a little hit or miss for me. It has great stories of towns who have people who want to see it change and I can appreciate that so much!
December 28, 2017
I wrote about this in greater detail here: https://brandnewkindof.wordpress.com/...
March 3, 2019
One of my favorite singers wrote a book about basically the same kind of stuff I write about, so yeah, pretty thrilled.
December 4, 2019
I especially enjoyed her chapters about Moab, Utah and Middletown, CT. As well as her explanation of 'Capitol-itis'. Interesting perspective about what allows a community to thrive--even if it's rather long in its explanations.
January 1, 2018
I bought an binge-read the book in advance of a book signing event. It was insightful and provocative, and the text is drawn from the author’s own experience as a traveling musician. It made me think a lot about the communities I have lived in and what role positive proximity plays in creating and sustaining vibrant communities across the country.
September 16, 2025
"What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician's Guide to Rebuilding America's Communities - One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time" (what a mouthful) by Dar Williams was this month's selection for my S.E.E.D. (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) book group. This was a really interesting choice and we (the fifteen of us who have been together since 1992) had an excellent discussion about the book.
The book, a work of non-fiction, takes a deep-dive look at eight "towns," all of which Williams has visited while performing on the road, and how each of these places manage to achieve what Williams terms "positive proximity." Williams defines this as "a state of being where living side by side with other people is experienced as beneficial...Someone starts something. Others join in. And then everything starts to shift into more clarity, more resilience, more goodwill, and more pride." (pp. x-xi) She posits that there are three things needed to achieve positive proximity in a community:
1. "...spaces, indoors and out, that naturally maximize the number of good interactions in the town." (p. xii)
2. "...there are projects that build a town's identity - socially, culturally, and/or historically - helping them become themselves. These projects bring out the advantages of proximity by attracting the passions and skill sets of people who are like-minded in some ways but very different in others, cross-pollinating abilities and personalities. " (p.xii)
3. "...there is the abstract quality that I call translation. Translation is essential for positive proximity to take root and grow. Translation is all the acts of communication that open up a town to itself. Translation is not to be mistaken for civility. Translation includes a tacit commitment to facilitating all the variegated voices and personalities." (p. xiii)
Williams takes a deep dive look at eight cities (and mentions several others), all of which she has performed in and studied:
1. Beacon, New York: The Power of Created Spaces
2. Moab, Utah: Natural Space
3. Wilmington, New York: Waterfronts
4. Phoenixville, Pennsylvania: History
5. Carrboro, North Carolina: Culture
6. Finger Lakes, New York: Food (an agrosphere)
7. Middletown, Connecticut: Partnerships
8. Gainsville, Florida: Conscious Bridgers
Takeaways:
1. The book was published in 2017, and this really matters. It's also important to note that most of Williams's research took place in the ten years or so prior to this. Eight plus years later, in 2025, our world has changed a great deal. We have survived a pandemic and our politic climate has shifted. I wondered what each of the communities discussed in the book look like today. Positive proximity is not something that is established and remains the same for eternity. The world changes (natural disasters, the relocation or loss of conscious bridgers, politics, etc.), and these changes make it necessary to continuously work to achieve and preserve positive proximity.
2. The central premise of the book is that positive proximity is a desired quality in our towns, cities, and neighborhoods. This is not the case for all individuals and all communities, as our current political climate demonstrates. And some personalities, introverts for example, might not find this desirable. I have an individual in my circle who finds positive proximity absolutely torturous. However, some positive proximity would probably be good in many ways for this person. And, I think that research demonstrates that positive proximity improves our quality of life, our health, and life-span.
3. I loved that this book made me look at the community in which I live, and don't necessarily feel positive proximity in, in a new way. I looked at the things that it is doing well in terms of positive proximity - a new town green with walking paths, pickle ball courts, a splash pad, and a park shelter and a town center building that includes a lovely library, senior center, and city offices. I also considered what it doesn't do well - it doesn't use the water that it is near to its advantage, very little is done to feature the town's history (the mill, the church, the farming community), there are absolutely no cultural activities (except in the schools), there is not a downtown center area in which one can easily walk, and there are very few independently owned businesses and several franchise businesses, etc.
4. These things made me consider buying a copy of the book for each of the members of our city council/planning committee. However, I live in a very conservative area, and figured that this book (oh my!) would be considered very liberal and perhaps received in the wrong way. Isn't that a sad statement about the world in which we live? Positive proximity is exactly what we need to build bridges instead of walls.
5. I loved that the book also made me look at the people with whom I have come in contact in a new way. I have definitely had the good fortune to come in contact with many "conscious bridgers" in my lifetime.
6. The book also made me look at the places mentioned in the book in new ways. I definitely want to check out some of these places in the future! Some members of the group mentioned the fact that most of the cities explored in the book were near the East Coast. They wished that more cities throughout the nation would have been explored. In addition to learning about cities that I knew little about, "What I Saw in a Thousand Towns" made me think about the places that I have actually visited in new ways as well (Montgomery and the Voting Rights Museum, Louisville' Forecastle Park, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis, the Finger Lakes region in New York, etc.).
7. The book is well-researched. Williams travelled to each city as a performer and as a researcher/author. She visited many parts of each location and interviewed key players.
Anyway, we had a great discussion! I am glad to have read this piece. One of the signs of a good book for me is one that leads to me learning new things and looking at the world in which I live in new ways. And this book did just that for me! A terrific read!
The book, a work of non-fiction, takes a deep-dive look at eight "towns," all of which Williams has visited while performing on the road, and how each of these places manage to achieve what Williams terms "positive proximity." Williams defines this as "a state of being where living side by side with other people is experienced as beneficial...Someone starts something. Others join in. And then everything starts to shift into more clarity, more resilience, more goodwill, and more pride." (pp. x-xi) She posits that there are three things needed to achieve positive proximity in a community:
1. "...spaces, indoors and out, that naturally maximize the number of good interactions in the town." (p. xii)
2. "...there are projects that build a town's identity - socially, culturally, and/or historically - helping them become themselves. These projects bring out the advantages of proximity by attracting the passions and skill sets of people who are like-minded in some ways but very different in others, cross-pollinating abilities and personalities. " (p.xii)
3. "...there is the abstract quality that I call translation. Translation is essential for positive proximity to take root and grow. Translation is all the acts of communication that open up a town to itself. Translation is not to be mistaken for civility. Translation includes a tacit commitment to facilitating all the variegated voices and personalities." (p. xiii)
Williams takes a deep dive look at eight cities (and mentions several others), all of which she has performed in and studied:
1. Beacon, New York: The Power of Created Spaces
2. Moab, Utah: Natural Space
3. Wilmington, New York: Waterfronts
4. Phoenixville, Pennsylvania: History
5. Carrboro, North Carolina: Culture
6. Finger Lakes, New York: Food (an agrosphere)
7. Middletown, Connecticut: Partnerships
8. Gainsville, Florida: Conscious Bridgers
Takeaways:
1. The book was published in 2017, and this really matters. It's also important to note that most of Williams's research took place in the ten years or so prior to this. Eight plus years later, in 2025, our world has changed a great deal. We have survived a pandemic and our politic climate has shifted. I wondered what each of the communities discussed in the book look like today. Positive proximity is not something that is established and remains the same for eternity. The world changes (natural disasters, the relocation or loss of conscious bridgers, politics, etc.), and these changes make it necessary to continuously work to achieve and preserve positive proximity.
2. The central premise of the book is that positive proximity is a desired quality in our towns, cities, and neighborhoods. This is not the case for all individuals and all communities, as our current political climate demonstrates. And some personalities, introverts for example, might not find this desirable. I have an individual in my circle who finds positive proximity absolutely torturous. However, some positive proximity would probably be good in many ways for this person. And, I think that research demonstrates that positive proximity improves our quality of life, our health, and life-span.
3. I loved that this book made me look at the community in which I live, and don't necessarily feel positive proximity in, in a new way. I looked at the things that it is doing well in terms of positive proximity - a new town green with walking paths, pickle ball courts, a splash pad, and a park shelter and a town center building that includes a lovely library, senior center, and city offices. I also considered what it doesn't do well - it doesn't use the water that it is near to its advantage, very little is done to feature the town's history (the mill, the church, the farming community), there are absolutely no cultural activities (except in the schools), there is not a downtown center area in which one can easily walk, and there are very few independently owned businesses and several franchise businesses, etc.
4. These things made me consider buying a copy of the book for each of the members of our city council/planning committee. However, I live in a very conservative area, and figured that this book (oh my!) would be considered very liberal and perhaps received in the wrong way. Isn't that a sad statement about the world in which we live? Positive proximity is exactly what we need to build bridges instead of walls.
5. I loved that the book also made me look at the people with whom I have come in contact in a new way. I have definitely had the good fortune to come in contact with many "conscious bridgers" in my lifetime.
6. The book also made me look at the places mentioned in the book in new ways. I definitely want to check out some of these places in the future! Some members of the group mentioned the fact that most of the cities explored in the book were near the East Coast. They wished that more cities throughout the nation would have been explored. In addition to learning about cities that I knew little about, "What I Saw in a Thousand Towns" made me think about the places that I have actually visited in new ways as well (Montgomery and the Voting Rights Museum, Louisville' Forecastle Park, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis, the Finger Lakes region in New York, etc.).
7. The book is well-researched. Williams travelled to each city as a performer and as a researcher/author. She visited many parts of each location and interviewed key players.
Anyway, we had a great discussion! I am glad to have read this piece. One of the signs of a good book for me is one that leads to me learning new things and looking at the world in which I live in new ways. And this book did just that for me! A terrific read!
October 21, 2021
First I so love Dar as a preformer, she is do amazing in my 20 years seeing her. This book to me is more a historical type of book, it's ok when talking about places.
March 22, 2018
As a book about development and community building, this isn't saying anything particularly new and insightful. It's pleasantly conversational and jargon-free, but also kinda stays on the surface level of "here are some nice stories about things that succeeded."
And that's not exactly a criticism, because when one of your favorite musicians writes about this stuff, you're definitely more into it for the anecdotes and the unique perspective of a touring artist than you are for any rigorous case study kind of content. Worth a read with that in mind, especially because she focuses on some towns (and parts of towns) that don't get a lot of press in the planning/development world.
And that's not exactly a criticism, because when one of your favorite musicians writes about this stuff, you're definitely more into it for the anecdotes and the unique perspective of a touring artist than you are for any rigorous case study kind of content. Worth a read with that in mind, especially because she focuses on some towns (and parts of towns) that don't get a lot of press in the planning/development world.
Read
August 20, 2017Just finished. Really good. A lot of thoughts. But mostly still looking for a home bigger than my blog for my review.
April 5, 2018
Dar Williams has been a favorite of mine since KPIG played her cover version of Wilder Than Her all the time back in the early 90s when I was studying Arabic at the DLI in Monterey. I came to love much of her other stuff--the Christians and the Pagans and the Babysitter and the Coed Crisis songs. Good stuff.
Here Dar shares how she can tell if a town is healthy and alive and thriving, or if it is struggling and down and dying--and what makes the difference.
It is thrilling and inspiring. The examples come one after another--the key ingredient in creating a vibrant healthy community is just a few people who care enough to do something, to reach out and invite others to join them, to get the ball rolling. Once the ball starts rolling, you need a community gathering space--often a coffee shop or a bar.
If your coffee shop has a messy board filled with community announcements and people come there to work instead of staying at home huddled over their computer in isolation, you probably have a thriving town. If your town bar plays music too loud to talk over and is a place where people go to drink, you probably live in a dying town.
In one New England town, a mother saw a hill with great sledding potential. She later saw a rural homesteader outside of town with a large mowing rig and asked him to mow down the weeds and brush on the hill. He did. She brought her kids when the snow fell. Other kids came. The PTA showed up and set up a table selling hot chocolate and then began signing up volunteers. The next year they expanded into a snow-cone shack. Then they opened a coffee shop downtown in some abandoned space. Then a gallery next door. Now there are a summer music festival and three galleries and hundreds engaged in the community on a weekly basis. And it was a dying industrial town with an emptying out downtown and a widespread drug problem among the youth. Things are much much better now. No one came in and saved them. They saved themselves, a little bit at a time, everyone stepping up occasionally in small ways that added up to an amazing transformation.
Moab Utah is highlighted as a great community doing it the right way. It seems to me that Park City does a good job with this too. Even little Helper
In much of Utah, with LDS wards providing such strong community and the Church requiring so much of member's time and resources, the organic cafe culture and artistic communities in Utah are often stunted and/or absent. Few active Mormons have time to build community in addition to serving in a significant church calling. Those not active in the LDS community often, therefore, suffer, feeling too often alone and isolated.
I love the communities Dar explores in her book. I long to help build them and be a part of them. Full speed ahead.
Here Dar shares how she can tell if a town is healthy and alive and thriving, or if it is struggling and down and dying--and what makes the difference.
It is thrilling and inspiring. The examples come one after another--the key ingredient in creating a vibrant healthy community is just a few people who care enough to do something, to reach out and invite others to join them, to get the ball rolling. Once the ball starts rolling, you need a community gathering space--often a coffee shop or a bar.
If your coffee shop has a messy board filled with community announcements and people come there to work instead of staying at home huddled over their computer in isolation, you probably have a thriving town. If your town bar plays music too loud to talk over and is a place where people go to drink, you probably live in a dying town.
In one New England town, a mother saw a hill with great sledding potential. She later saw a rural homesteader outside of town with a large mowing rig and asked him to mow down the weeds and brush on the hill. He did. She brought her kids when the snow fell. Other kids came. The PTA showed up and set up a table selling hot chocolate and then began signing up volunteers. The next year they expanded into a snow-cone shack. Then they opened a coffee shop downtown in some abandoned space. Then a gallery next door. Now there are a summer music festival and three galleries and hundreds engaged in the community on a weekly basis. And it was a dying industrial town with an emptying out downtown and a widespread drug problem among the youth. Things are much much better now. No one came in and saved them. They saved themselves, a little bit at a time, everyone stepping up occasionally in small ways that added up to an amazing transformation.
Moab Utah is highlighted as a great community doing it the right way. It seems to me that Park City does a good job with this too. Even little Helper
In much of Utah, with LDS wards providing such strong community and the Church requiring so much of member's time and resources, the organic cafe culture and artistic communities in Utah are often stunted and/or absent. Few active Mormons have time to build community in addition to serving in a significant church calling. Those not active in the LDS community often, therefore, suffer, feeling too often alone and isolated.
I love the communities Dar explores in her book. I long to help build them and be a part of them. Full speed ahead.
October 20, 2023
This is close to a 1-star rating.
The biggest problem with this: It's boring.
I will caveat this with the fact that, while I like Dar Williams, I am not a superfan. I was introduced to her by a friend, who then nominated this book to be read by our book club. I've been to one concert of hers, and I like a couple of her songs. With that said, I don't think it matters.
This book could have been good if it leaned took one of the following two paths:
1) Dar's personal experiences while traveling.
2) An in-depth, well-researched guide towards bringing art and community to small towns.
The main problem is that it's neither. This book is Dar giving fairly anecdotal urban planning advice based on loose stories about how towns did some nice things. It won't satisfy Dar fans because it doesn't tell many personal stories about her own experience, or how she interacts with cities. It won't satisfy city-planning nerds because it's not academic at all. Just her thoughts. And so that means there's very few compelling stories here, nor is there concrete, actionable advice...which means it's super boring to read.
Also, it jumps around a ton. I don't really know what her main point is here. It seems like she tells stories about towns doing good things, and then gives a little perspective on it, then moves on. There's no cohesive point.
There are some interesting points she made about open mics and city halls, which I appreciated.
Oh, and you can skip the audiobook. She decided to narrate this herself and it's bad. Despite the fact that she has a lot of personality in real life, she is not a good reader. She shows absolutely no emotion, which just makes this book that much harder to get through.
The biggest problem with this: It's boring.
I will caveat this with the fact that, while I like Dar Williams, I am not a superfan. I was introduced to her by a friend, who then nominated this book to be read by our book club. I've been to one concert of hers, and I like a couple of her songs. With that said, I don't think it matters.
This book could have been good if it leaned took one of the following two paths:
1) Dar's personal experiences while traveling.
2) An in-depth, well-researched guide towards bringing art and community to small towns.
The main problem is that it's neither. This book is Dar giving fairly anecdotal urban planning advice based on loose stories about how towns did some nice things. It won't satisfy Dar fans because it doesn't tell many personal stories about her own experience, or how she interacts with cities. It won't satisfy city-planning nerds because it's not academic at all. Just her thoughts. And so that means there's very few compelling stories here, nor is there concrete, actionable advice...which means it's super boring to read.
Also, it jumps around a ton. I don't really know what her main point is here. It seems like she tells stories about towns doing good things, and then gives a little perspective on it, then moves on. There's no cohesive point.
There are some interesting points she made about open mics and city halls, which I appreciated.
Oh, and you can skip the audiobook. She decided to narrate this herself and it's bad. Despite the fact that she has a lot of personality in real life, she is not a good reader. She shows absolutely no emotion, which just makes this book that much harder to get through.
August 14, 2018
Dar Williams brings out an interesting proposition in the concept of Positive Proximity, a feel-good elaboration on the geographic dictum that "things that are closer together are more alike than things that are farther apart."
Part travelogue, part manifesto, the book is good for anyone interested in social geography. It sometimes gets weighed down by Williams' descriptions of local people or institutions (many, but not all of which are important.) There are few places where it drags though, and Dar is a good writer with a knack for narrative, so the heavy interpersonal tangents can be a weakness, but an easily forgivable one.
This book isn't for everyone, but is an easy and enjoyable read for touchy-feely geography types (I include myself in this category.) The premise is compelling, and my only other complaint is that it would be a little stronger from at least a little tie-in to similar academic literature on the same topic. There's plenty to pick from and it would only give added strength to Williams' quasi-academic arguement. Still, an enjoyable, positive-minded read that I would reccomend to most.
Part travelogue, part manifesto, the book is good for anyone interested in social geography. It sometimes gets weighed down by Williams' descriptions of local people or institutions (many, but not all of which are important.) There are few places where it drags though, and Dar is a good writer with a knack for narrative, so the heavy interpersonal tangents can be a weakness, but an easily forgivable one.
This book isn't for everyone, but is an easy and enjoyable read for touchy-feely geography types (I include myself in this category.) The premise is compelling, and my only other complaint is that it would be a little stronger from at least a little tie-in to similar academic literature on the same topic. There's plenty to pick from and it would only give added strength to Williams' quasi-academic arguement. Still, an enjoyable, positive-minded read that I would reccomend to most.
December 30, 2018
One of my recurring themes of thought so far this year has been how small to mid-size towns and cities grow, thrive, and remain prosperable. Whenever I think about a topic that I wish I understood more, I always think about how I just want to talk to a bunch of people about the thing, particularly people who are inimtately involved in it (for example, I’ve always wanted to write a book about bookstores, and I daydream about interviewing owners of bookstores.) To that point, Dar Williams’ provided that insight when it came to the small towns she profiled.
This was a book that, while I appreciate the insights Dar Williams has, and I respect her as an artist and mother and community member, I was underwhelmed by the quality of writing. This was one of the books I was probably most near to not finishing (granted, there are plenty of books that I start and don’t finish, so it was above those on the scale.) There was plenty of valuable anecdotal thought in what she wrote; just look how many quotes I highlighted below. But there are a lot better resources out there for developed urban thought and theory.
Many thanks to the Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle for exposing me to it.
This was a book that, while I appreciate the insights Dar Williams has, and I respect her as an artist and mother and community member, I was underwhelmed by the quality of writing. This was one of the books I was probably most near to not finishing (granted, there are plenty of books that I start and don’t finish, so it was above those on the scale.) There was plenty of valuable anecdotal thought in what she wrote; just look how many quotes I highlighted below. But there are a lot better resources out there for developed urban thought and theory.
Many thanks to the Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle for exposing me to it.
July 28, 2018
A fascinating book that engaged me right from the start. Dar Williams shares her observations about the relationships between people in a community, and their town's geography , history, and physical structure. Dar's career as a musician and singer-songwriter, has given her the opportunity to make periodic visits to many diverse locations throughout the U.S. Her observations, over the span of her career about what has formed the most successful of these places, are both thoughtful and intriguing. She establishes a vocabulary for finding commonality and contrast in how these towns evolved and why people really like living in them. At the center of the book is her cogent analysis of the mutually beneficial relationships between individuals, community, and geography, and the diverse ways that this relationship can cause a town to flourish.
I've enjoyed Dar William's music and performances for a long time. This book , in a very different way, was as enjoyable as one of her shows.
I've enjoyed Dar William's music and performances for a long time. This book , in a very different way, was as enjoyable as one of her shows.
November 21, 2019
I picked this up because I love Dar's music and imagined this to be a book about observing and learning about small towns from a touring musician's perspective. And it is, technically, but it is really about *urban planning and development* from the perspective of someone who is really geeking out on urban planning and development and just happens to travel a bunch for their job. The distinction makes it different read than I was expecting.
I am interested in some of this stuff, and I like learning about other places and ways of drawing communities together. Parts of this were enjoyable to me, and other parts boring enough that I skimmed (I'm not a skimmer, generally). I also recognize the limitations of Dar's perspective (and expertise? It seemed like this was a thing she is deeply interested in and knowledgeable about, but in a non-professional capacity and of course, limited by her position as privileged, white, traveling observer.) I do enjoy her writing, but I didn't love this book. But if you want to get your small town urban planning nerd going, you might like this one!
I am interested in some of this stuff, and I like learning about other places and ways of drawing communities together. Parts of this were enjoyable to me, and other parts boring enough that I skimmed (I'm not a skimmer, generally). I also recognize the limitations of Dar's perspective (and expertise? It seemed like this was a thing she is deeply interested in and knowledgeable about, but in a non-professional capacity and of course, limited by her position as privileged, white, traveling observer.) I do enjoy her writing, but I didn't love this book. But if you want to get your small town urban planning nerd going, you might like this one!
December 1, 2024
I bought this book because I love Dar Williams, and the title intrigued me. While I’ve picked it up and gotten through the intro and first chapter, life always prevented me from continuing until the timing was right.
This book is exactly what its title suggests: it’s almost a layperson’s guide to starting small to build community. As a teacher, I’ve never found myself active in my community beyond the walls of the building and the playing fields of the teams I coached. As soon as I applied to a volunteer committee within town, I knew exactly what book I needed to read.
8 pages of.notes later, I finished and loved this book! The examples of the towns within got my imagination floating, and if I missed parts of the book it was because I was daydreaming about incorporating ideas found within its pages.
Don’t buy this book looking for Dar Williams’ stories of the road; you won’t find that. Do what John Prine said… blow up your tv, read the book and dream about ways to bring people together. Then take the steps and do it.
This book is exactly what its title suggests: it’s almost a layperson’s guide to starting small to build community. As a teacher, I’ve never found myself active in my community beyond the walls of the building and the playing fields of the teams I coached. As soon as I applied to a volunteer committee within town, I knew exactly what book I needed to read.
8 pages of.notes later, I finished and loved this book! The examples of the towns within got my imagination floating, and if I missed parts of the book it was because I was daydreaming about incorporating ideas found within its pages.
Don’t buy this book looking for Dar Williams’ stories of the road; you won’t find that. Do what John Prine said… blow up your tv, read the book and dream about ways to bring people together. Then take the steps and do it.
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